Beck felt his temperature rising, noticed his elbow was starting to swell; An emergency procedure kept him in hospital for five days

Texas offensive coordinator Tim Beck never dreamed an elbow problem would keep him in the hospital for five days, let alone force him to miss a football game.

Beck said Wednesday he wasn’t feeling good two weeks ago and couldn’t get his body temperature down. His left elbow started to swell. The longtime coach thought he would go over to the hospital, get some medicine and head home.

About a half-hour later, doctors told Beck to call his wife. He was being admitted and getting prepped for what amounted to emergency surgery to scrape out a bacterial infection.

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“It’s crazy. Had an infection that ran wild on me a little bit,” Beck said after Wednesday’s practice. It was his first interview with reporters since everything happened on Sept. 26.

“First time I’ve missed anything, practice or anything in 30 years, so it was hard,” Beck said. “Really hard on my wife, because I was angry and took a lot out on her. I just kept sitting in the hospital thinking, ‘This is an elbow. C’mon.’”

Beck normally sits in the press box atop the field each Saturday and talks with quarterback Sam Ehlinger on the headsets. He missed the K-State trip when Ehlinger completed 29 of 36 passes for 207 yards as UT won 19-14.

Texas coach Tom Herman has downplayed questions all season about whether Beck was the team’s primary play-caller. The head coach has said it’s a “collective” effort by the entire offensive staff to call plays.

Asked if he saw anything different watching the game on TV, Beck said, “Just yelling. My blood pressure was going up. Nurse had to come in when Sam missed that deep post ball.”

Beck was just relieved he could watch the game at all.

“Shout out to St. David’s,” Beck said. “They didn’t have a TV. They didn’t have the game on. They wheeled in a 50-inch with an Apple TV so I could watch the game. I was really going to be hot.”

Beck rejoined the Longhorns the following Sunday and participated in game prep for the Oklahoma game. He’s had a difficult time getting his wind back but is getting close to “whatever 100 percent is, I am.”

Beck spoke with reporters with his left arm wrapped and held in a back brace. He’s expecting to get stitches out from the surgery either Thursday or Friday.

“Just quickly, thank you for all the prayers and everything,” Beck said. “I really appreciate that. That was very kind for all the fans and all you guys reaching out to me. I really do appreciate that. We’ll go out and get a good one this week.”